BUTOMACEAE s.l.
NB the Butomaceae family has in the recent systems only one genus Butomus. The genera in the region belong to the Alismataceae.
Morphological description
Laticiferous herbs.
Leaves
Leaves simple, entire, crowded, curvinerved.
Flowers
Flower bisexual, actinomorphic, sepals 3, petals 3, free; ovary superior, apocarpous.
Seeds
Seeds many.
Different from: Alismataceae: fruit a 1-seeded achene. - Hydrocharitaceae: not laticiferous, ovary inferior.
Distribution: A small widespread family. In Malesia only 2 monotypic genera: - Limnocharis*, planted in sawahs and other wet places; - Tenagocharis, very rare, wet places.
Notes: Limnocharis flava is a well-known vegetable.
Literature: C.G.G. J. van Steenis, Fl. Males. I, 5 (1954) 118-120.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Limnocharis 19 - Tenagocharis 19.
Illustrations: Fig. 35. Limnocharis flava (L.) Buch. (Butomaceae). Reproduced from J.J. Ochse & R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies (1980) fig. 51.
Images in PhytoImage for Butomaceae (Butomus only) and for Alismataceae.